Clare Volunteer Centre has been featured in a substantial Clare Champion article exploring the work of the centre, the story of its manager Sharon Meaney, and the road towards Clare becoming European Volunteering Capital 2027.
The piece offers a thoughtful look at how Clare Volunteer Centre has developed since its establishment in 2008 — from helping people find volunteering opportunities to supporting organisations, coordinating large-scale programmes, contributing to research, promoting recognition, and working with partners across the county.
At the centre of the article is Sharon’s perspective on Clare: a place she describes through relationships, generosity and a deep sense of connection. Her reflections give the feature a personal and human tone, moving beyond the usual language of volunteering and showing the work as something rooted in real people, real places and long-standing trust.
The Clare Champion also looks at the successful European Volunteering Capital 2027 bid and the wide network of organisations, volunteers and local stakeholders involved in shaping the application and supporting the vision behind it. The article reflects the scale of collaboration across the county and the significance of Clare joining cities such as Barcelona, Lisbon, London, Berlin and Gdansk as a European Volunteering Capital.
For Clare Volunteer Centre, the feature is an important moment of recognition. It captures not only a milestone year ahead, but the years of work, relationships and local knowledge that have brought the centre to this point.
Read the full Clare Champion article here.
